Any discussion of the prior art throughout the specification should in no way be considered as an admission that such prior art is widely known or forms part of common general knowledge in the field.
Retail venues typically make use of one or more point of sale (POS) consoles to facilitate the processing of consumer transactions. Typically, a consumer collects one or more consumer items from within the retail venue, and presents these to an operator of a POS console for processing. The console includes an identification system for obtaining identification information from the item or items, such as a barcode scanner or RFID reader. The console also includes a processor for validating the identification information to obtain product pricing information from a data source, and for totaling an account to be paid by the consumer.
It is typically preferable to implement POS consoles with a high throughput capability. That is, POS consoles with the ability to process a large number of items in a relatively short amount of time. This is achieved by utilizing efficient and reliable identification technology, such as bi-optic barcode scanners. To assist in improving throughput, it is common for a POS console to provide an operator with an audible tone indicative of an item being read, or in some cases correctly read and validated. For example: a first tone is produced each time an item is correctly read and validated, and an audibly distinct second tone is produced each time the console experiences a problem in validation. As such, the operator is—at least in theory—able to conveniently identify if and when an item is not correctly processed.
In large supermarkets, numerous POS consoles are arranged in adjacent lanes. This often creates difficulties for operators in recognizing and reacting to audible tones. For example, an operator of a first POS console mistakenly relies or acts upon a tone from a second POS terminal. Further, the continuous repetition of monotonous tones arguably detracts from a consumer's retail shopping experience.